Analysis: Tough-o-Meter

(4) Base Camp

Getting at Larkin's deeper themes might take some digging, but on the level of language, there's not much in this poem to make you scratch your head. When you consider that Larkin's poetry was appearing shortly after the complicated work of modernists like T.S. Eliot or Ezra Pound, and that he wanted to write for more general audience, then you can totally appreciate just how accessible his poetry is.